White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public AffairsLL.B., University of Virginia School of Law, 1961M.A., Oxford University, 1965B.A., Oxford University, 1961B.A., University of Richmond, 1954

Widely acknowledged as an expert in the fields of constitutional law, comparative constitutionalism, and the Supreme Court, A. E. Dick Howard is the White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, Professor Howard is a graduate of the University of Richmond and received his law degree from the University of Virginia. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, where he read philosophy, politics, and economics. After graduating from law school, he was a law clerk to Justice Hugo L. Black of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Active in public affairs, Professor Howard was executive director of the commission that wrote Virginia's current constitution and directed the successful referendum campaign for its ratification. He has been counsel to the General Assembly of Virginia and a consultant to state and federal bodies, including the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. From 1982 to 1986 he served as counselor to the Governor of Virginia, and he chaired Virginia's Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution.

Professor Howard has been twice a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, in Washington, D.C. He has served as president of the Virginia Academy of Laureates and has received the University of Virginia's Distinguished Professor Award for excellence in teaching. James Madison University, the University of Richmond, Campbell University, the College of William and Mary, and, in 2000, Wake Forest University have conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. In the fall of 2001, he was the first Distinguished Visiting Scholar in Residence at Rhodes House, Oxford.

Professor Howard is the author of a number of books, articles, and monographs. These include The Road from Runnymede: Magna Carta and Constitutionalism in America and Commentaries on the Constitution of Virginia, which won a Phi Beta Kappa prize. More recent works include Democracy's Dawn and Constitution-making in Eastern Europe.

Professor Howard has briefed and argued cases before state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States. He is a regular guest on television news programs; during the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearings on the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, Professor Howard provided gavel-to-gavel coverage for the “McNeil-Lehrer News Program.” He also interviewed the justices for the film being shown to visitors to the Supreme Court's building in Washington.

Often consulted by constitutional draftsmen in other states and abroad, Professor Howard has compared notes with revisers at work on new constitutions in Brazil, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Albania, Malawi, and South Africa. In 1996, the Union of Czech Lawyers, citing Professor Howard's promotion of the idea of a civil society in Central Europe, awarded him their Randa Medal—the first time this honor has been conferred upon anyone but a Czech citizen. In 2004, the Greater Richmond Chapter of the World Affairs Council conferred on him their George C. Marshall Award in International Law and Diplomacy.

In January 1994, Washingtonian magazine named Professor Howard as one of the most respected educators in the nation. In 2007, the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Library of Virginia included Professor Howard on their list of the "greatest Virginians" of the 20th century.

In 2013 the University of Virginia recognized Howard with its Thomas Jefferson Award — the highest honor given to faculty members at the University. The award commended Howard "for advancing, through his character, work, and personal example the ideals and objectives for which Jefferson founded the University."

Toward Constitutionalism and Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe (editor) (Virginia Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution, 1992).

The United States Constitution: Roots, Rights, and Responsibilities (editor) (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992).

Virginia and the Constitution (editor with Melvin I. Urofsky) (Virginia Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution, 1992).

The Bill of Rights, the Courts, and the Law (with Robert M. O’Neil et al.) (Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy, 1991).

Democracy’s Dawn: A Directory of American Initiatives on Constitutionalism, Democracy, and the Rule of Law in Central and Eastern Europe (University Press of Virginia, 1991).

The Road to Constitutionalism (Virginia Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution, 1990).

I’ll See You in Court: The States and the Supreme Court (National Governors’ Association Center for Policy Research, 1980).

State Aid to Private Higher Education (Michie, 1977).

Fair Trial and Free Expression: A Background Report Prepared for and Presented to the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights (with Sanford A. Newman) (Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, Committee Print, 1976).

Commentaries on the Constitution of Virginia (University Press of Virginia, 1974).

State Financial Measures Involving the Private Sector of Higher Education (with William H. McFarlane and Jay L. Chronister) (National Council of Independent Colleges and Universities, 1974).

Virginia Votes for a New Constitution (with Harry M. Bradley and Tim Finchem) (Virginia Western Community College, 1973).

“The Road from Monticello: The Influence of the American Constitutional Experience in Other Lands,” in Robert Fatton, Jr. & R. K. Ramazani, eds., Religion, State, and Society: Jefferson’s Wall of Separation in Comparative Perspective 73 (Palgrave Macmillan 2009).

“The Constitutional Convention of 1787,” in Historians on America: Decisions That Made a Difference 9 (U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs, 2007).

“Adopting a New Constitution: Lessons from Virginia,” in G. Alan Tarr & Robert F. Williams, eds., 1 State Constitutions for the Twenty-first Century: The Politics of State Constitutional Reform 73 (State University of New York Press, 2006).

“Judicial Independence in Post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe,” in Peter H. Russell & David M. O’Brien, eds., Judicial Independence in the Age of Democracy: Critical Perspectives from Around the World 89 (University Press of Virginia, 2001).

“Constitutional Courts in Central and Eastern Europe,” in G. O. Mazur, ed., Twenty-Five Year Commemoration to the Life of Hans Kelsen (1898-1973), at 53 (Semenenko Foundation, 1999).

“Rights in Passage: English Liberties in Early America,” in Patrick T. Conley & John P. Kaminski, eds., The Bill of Rights and the States: The Colonial and Revolutionary Origins of American Liberties 3 (Madison House, 1992).

“Virginia: Constitutionalism’s Hourglass,” in A.E. Dick Howard & Melvin I. Urofsky, eds., Virginia and the Constitution 11 (Virginia Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution, 1992).

“The Supreme Court and the Serpentine Wall,” in Merrill D. Peterson & Robert C. Vaughan, eds., The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom: its Evolution and Consequences in American History 313 (Cambridge University Press, 1988).

“State Constitutions: An Essential Part of the American Constitutional System,” in Robert S. Peck & Ralph S. Pollock, eds., The Blessings of Liberty: Bicentennial Lectures of the National Archives 125 (American Bar Association, 1986).“The Challenge of the Constitution’s Bicentennial,” in Charles J. White & Norman Gross, eds., The Bulwark of Freedom: Public Understanding of the Law 167 (American Bar Association, 1985).

“Federalism in the Courts,” in Emerging Issues in American Federalism: Papers Prepared for ACIR’s 25th Anniversary 27 (Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, 1985).

“Introduction: A Frequent Recurrence to Fundamental Principles,” in Bradley D. McGraw, ed., Developments in State Constitutional Law xi (West, 1985).

“James Madison and the Founding of the Republic”; “The Supreme Court and the Establishment of Religion”; and “Madison and the Republic,” in Robert S. Alley, ed., James Madison on Religious Liberty 21, 279, 320 (Prometheus Books, 1985).

“Toward Constitutional Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe,” in Richard C. Remy & Jacek Strzemieczny, eds., Building Civic Education for Democracy in Poland 175 (National Council for the Social Studies, 1996).

“The Wall of Separation: The Supreme Court as Uncertain Stonemason,” in James E. Wood, Jr., ed., Religion and the State: Essays in Honor of Leo Pfeffer 85 (Baylor University Press, 1985).

“When States Amend Their Constitutions,” in Donald L. Robinson, ed., Reforming American Government: The Bicentennial Papers of the Committee on the Constitutional System 288 (Westview Press, l985).

“From Mason to Modern Times: 200 Years of American Rights,” in Josephine F. Pacheco, ed., The Legacy of George Mason 95 (Associated University Presses, 1984).

“The Burger Court and the First Amendment: Putting a Decade in Perspective: I. A Framework,” in Bill F. Chamberlin & Charlene J. Brown, eds., The First Amendment Reconsidered: New Perspectives on the Meaning of Freedom of Speech and Press 129 (Longman, 1982).

“Judicial Federalism: The States and the Supreme Court,” in Robert B. Hawkins, ed., American Federalism: A New Partnership for the Republic 215 (Institute for Contemporary Studies, 1982).

“‘For the Common Benefit’: The Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776,” in The George Mason Lectures: Honoring the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Virginia Declaration of Rights 11 (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1976).